About Mama and Little Bear

I don't really know how or why my little boy became known to us as Bear – I mean:

It is not his name;

It was never a nickname for him when I was expecting (these were Rainbow and Wriggler – I'll write about these names at a later date I'm sure); and

It wasn't even his original nickname when he was first born.

Saying all this, I can't really remember a time when we didn't call him our little Ezra Bear, it just kind of stuck after we sang: 'Hey there, Ezra Bear! Flying through the sky all fancy free. Hey there, Ezra Bear! We're all as happy as can be!' during the first few weeks after we came home from the hospital with him. This song has many variations (we like to make up lots of random songs in our house) and became a firm favourite during the early weeks when at 6:30pm, to the minute, he would start crying and would be unsettled then for the next couple of hours before he would finally go to sleep for the night. I do not miss those witching hours I can tell you, we would try so many different things to entertain, distract, and calm little Bear in an attempt to keep our sanity. Little Bear is certainly a character though, he tests and amazes me every day with the things he does. It isn't easy but I can say that being his Mummy is the best thing in the world.

So when thinking of a pseudonym I think it makes sense to go by Mama Bear. As a secondary school English teacher I am very aware of how much our world is moving to be increasingly 'online' and whilst I have blogged in the past about teaching and PR (a previous career venture), I want this blog to be something different. A chance for us to share our adventures in reading, sensory time and play; however, I cannot escape my profession, especially as some of the main questions I get asked by parents of all ages are:

What can I do to help my child read more?How can I help them with their spelling?How can I encourage them to love reading?What revision strategies do you suggest to help them revise? etc.

Over time I hope that I will be able to also provide some support in these areas too in a dedicated area in this blog, and also share my thoughts and experiences about going back to work and being a full time teacher and Mama Bear.

What about Papa Bear?

Well he is a fantastic hands-on Daddy with our little Bear, I honestly don't know how I could get on without him some days. He's also a teacher which is brilliant as we both understand the demands of our jobs, and (most of the time) we get to have time off together as a family during the school holiday periods.